By IANS,
Kolkata: As part of Nobel laureate and poet Rabindranath Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary celebrations, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Sunday laid the foundation stone for improvement and extension of the Nimtala Ghat, where he was cremated 70 years back.
“We have to improve the condition of this burning ghat for the benefit of the locals and beautify it for preserving Rabindranath’s memory,” Bhattacharjee said at the function.
He also laid the foundation for developing the Rabindranath Tagore Memorial Udyan situated in the premises.
“The memory of Tagore has not been preserved the way it should have been done here. As we start discovering him afresh on his 150th birth anniversary, we have to develop all spots which carry his memory,” Bhattacharjee said.
Side by side, the chief minister also kickstarted work for beautifying the area surrounding a bust of Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy, a legendary scholar and professor of chemistry, who founded the country’s first pharmaceutical company, Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceuticals in 1893. Roy was also cremated in the Nimtala burning ghat after his death in 1944.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the Kolkata Municipal Development Authority would carry out the project to be completed in two years at a cost of Rs.14 crore. As part of the work, a new building housing eight electric furnaces would be constructed by the side of the existing structure.
Besides, an air-conditioned rest room will also come up.
Tagore, born on May 7, 1861, got the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913 – the first Asian to get the coveted award.
He enriched Bengali culture and literature as a poet, novelist, musician, and playwright from the second half of the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century, and is still a household name in this part of the world with the popularity of his works yet undiminished.
Both India and Bangladesh have adopted Tagore’s songs as their national anthems.
Among other luminaries cremated at Nimtala are educationist-cum-social reformer Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar and litterateurs Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay, Manik Bandyopadhyay and Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay.